Franklin County expected to settle wrongful-imprisonment suits for $52,500

Friday

Mar 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 29, 2013 at 7:40 AM

The Franklin County commissioners are expected to approve settlements on Tuesday with two men who say they were wrongly imprisoned.

Josh Jarman, The Columbus Dispatch

The Franklin County commissioners are expected to approve settlements on Tuesday with two men who say they were wrongly imprisoned.

In one case, the county has agreed to pay $35,000 to Brandon J. Gibson of Grove City, who filed a federal lawsuit against county Sheriff Zach Scott and two deputy sheriffs last year. County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said Gibson had asked for $150,000.

The lawsuit says that Deputy Candy Clark and Sgt. Joshua Short entered Gibson’s home on Aug. 11, 2011, without a search or arrest warrant and without probable cause after a neighbor accused him of telephone harassment.

Gibson said Clark went to his house earlier that night to interview him about the complaint and returned with Short just before 5 a.m. and accused him of providing a false name and Social Security number. When Gibson refused to come out of his house because he said he had provided the correct information, the two deputies forced their way inside and tackled him, the lawsuit says.

Gibson was taken to jail and charged with obstructing official business, a charge that was later dropped.

During a meeting with County Commissioner Marilyn Brown to discuss the settlement, O’Brien said the two deputies “entered the premises without an arrest warrant not in accordance with standard procedures.”

“Without necessarily faulting the officers, they thought they were entitled to do what they did” but were not, O’Brien said.

He said Scott has since ordered training for all patrol deputies to make sure they follow the law in similar situations.

The other settlement, for $17,500, heads off a lawsuit by Russell Niggemyer, who threatened to sue the county because he was held in jail for six days while awaiting a hearing for failing to appear in court.

“While there were defenses, factoring in everything, we recommended the negotiated settlement,” O’Brien wrote in an email, adding that Niggemyer had requested a six-figure settlement.